The "expected title sponsorship deal between the Lotus F1 Team and U.S. technology company Honeywell seems to be falling through," according to Rencken & Lüttgens of MOTORSPORT TOTAL. Lotus announced several new sponsorship deals in the past several months. In November, the team "signed a deal with Coca-Cola." The U.S. soft drink producer "will advertise its energy drink brand Burn on the team's cars." At the beginning of the week, Lotus "agreed to a partnership with British clothing manufacturer Henri-Lloyd." However, in the search for a new title sponsorship deal, Team Principal Eric Boullier "has been unable to progress." In the fall of '12 everything indicated that a deal between Lotus and Honeywell "was imminent" after a Honeywell representative "was invited to a Lotus sponsor summit that normally only includes existing partners." However, nobody "has heard anything about a possible deal in several weeks" and when asked whether Lotus will have a new title sponsor this year, Boullier said, "I hope so." A reason for Honeywell to stall the potential deal "could be the team's lack of discretion." The fact that Lotus' negotiations with Honeywell "became an open secret in the F1 circle might have disgruntled the U.S. company" (MOTORSPORT TOTAL, 1/16).
